The Muslim Empires

1. ESPIRIT on Ottomans

E	- Had conquered so much, but passed on Constantinople - Very geared towards expansion, expansion, expansion! (And Army too) - Jewish and Christians merchants - Very vibrant market places offering a wide variety of assortments; in a good trading area (spics, ivory, textiles, etc.) - Inflation and economy tanking, caused many problems
S	- Coffee houses were made for scholars, and for people to come and gossip but also talk about literacy and politics; important social class aspect* - Bazaars had much to offer to the people, like spices & ivories - Guilds were starting to form, and merchants & artisans joined and had to abide by the guild leaders rules - Classes of warrior elites & aristocracy (administrators, religious clergymen, and warriors)
P	- Janissaries were formed, an imperial army, made up of “legal slaves,” usually boys from the Balkans; had extensive training & schooling, and were converted to Islam; usually stayed in the army, or moved into the bureaucracy - Ottoman bureaucracy was expanding, and rulers had absolute authority; sultans - Absolute monarchy - Vizier – kind of like a prime minister, more political power than sultan, carried out day to day administration activities - Lots of corruption in the bureaucracy between administrators - Ottomans started to decline, because they were getting to big to control, mass corruption, many internal conflicts, and leaders were becoming selfish, army ws falling apart
I	- Mehmed II comes into power and attacks Constantinople, and conquers it - Extends the empire further from Egypt to North Africa, and also the Mediterranean, and its surrounding areas (Balkans, Read Sea) - Arab came under the control on the Ottomans - Held strong naval power in the Mediterranean now - Basically protected the “Islam Heartland” and was a threat to Christianity
R	- Converted Hagia Sophia from a Cathedral to one of the greatest Mosques in the Islamic world - Also built another great Mosque in the Islamic World, the Sulymanie - Built up Mosques to promote Islam to non-believers and to convert them
I	- Coffeehouses were a great place for poets & scholars to go and share their work - Built gardens, that many poets said were “paradise” - Built aqueducts for water supply, and also built up city walls - Administrators built up, rest houses, mansions, real estates, hospitals, religious schools - Changed their language officially to Turkish - Were very ignorant to the European advancements, and lagged behind in sciences & technology - Had great arts, literacy, poetry, carpentry, and architecture too (of Mosques esp.)
T	- Aqueducts for water supply - Weaponry, which kept them to be one of the stronger armies around - Architecture, Mosques

2. ESPIRIT on Mughals

E	- Akbar eliminated the head tax, jizya, head tax system in India - Brought peace & prosperity to northern part of India - Major trading was textiles, esp. cotton because it was inexpensive - Textiles was a major source of revenue - Money earned from military - Administrative reforms
S	- Aristocrats were rewarded for their loyalty, given peasant villages - Encouraged marriages between Hindu Rajputs; alliances - Hindus were given opportunities, promoted to higher positions - Made sati illegal, women burning themselves with their husbands pyres - Also, advocated in women’s right as them getting married again being widows, and was against getting children married - Made houses/shelters for peasants and beggars - Women of court had more freedom, rather than lower class women - Muslim women did not leave their houses, and if they did, they were abused - Elite women climbed their way up in politics, but lower class women did not - Akbar started social reforms, along with administrative reforms
P	- Babur, founder of Mughal dynasty, although was from Mongols on one side, but the dynasty name did not come the Mongols - Did not conquest on religion, but on building an empire, getting back lost land, and gaining $$$ - Humayan, Babur’s son & successor took over after Babur’s death - Had to flee out in the 1540s due to Persians but then came back and restore the empire in the 1555s, but shortly died due to a head injury - Akbar, was his son & successor at age 13 - His successors were Jahangir & Shah Jahan, S.J was the better ruler - Jahangir’s wife, became a prominent figure in politics and surpassed J - S.J. built the Taj Mahal for his wife to his love to her - Women started to become interested in politics and climbed higher than even their husbands - Reforms were ignored & a lot of internal conflict & corruption
I	- Babur wanted to regain his lost land, by collecting booty, and not capturing his land back on religious purposes - Akbar’s army extended the empire, with conquests throughout north and central India
R	- Akbar tried to make a universal religion, in where Muslims & Hindus were fused together, called Din-i-Ilahi, did not work - Akbar put an end on the Hindu religious ceremony of Sati, that widowed woman perform, they burn themselves alive on their dead husband’s pyre - Aurangzeb was extremely religious, and followed Islam very seriously - Scolded his favorite daughter for showing “too much skin” even though she was wearing 3 layers of clothing - Sikhs started to retaliate against the Muslims
I	- Wanted to regulate the consumption of alcohol - Was against sati - Highly excelled in arts and architecture, like the Taj Mahal - Improved the calendar
T	- dying and weaving; famous for their madras style clothing and still very popular

3. ESPIRIT on Safavids

E	- Abbas I had made the empire very strong in international trade and culture - He built roads and rest houses for travelers & merchants, so travel could be safe - Isfahan = capital - Textiles & carpets were in high demand, so workshops were built to meet that demand - International and maritime trade was highly encouraged by Abbas I - Women were highly active in trading - Economy wasn’t so great, because markets were not very organized and constructed like those of the Ottomans
S	- Safavid followers were called Red Heads, because of their head gear - Nobles & warriors were assigned peasantry villages where they would receive food - Just like Ottomans, they had warrior aristocrats and a system of absolute monarchy - Boys and men were captured during time of war or conquest and turned into soldiers, but they could climb high in the ranks and earn a high position or become a leader - Peasants were invaded, looked down upon, had harsh landlords, and were always plagued by civil strife - Luxuries grew for the elites, with mansions, and infinite amount of servants - Turkish became their official language - Women had no social or political power, unless they were of the elite; elite women were very involved in conspiracies happening the palaces and mansions; no religious or legal or political power - Lower class women were highly active in trading
P	- Empire developed from Sufi mystics and religious preachers - Ishma’il became shah, but after some losses in war, he went into seclusion, while his sons fought in the war and tried to win - But after the loss at Chaldiran, Safavids fell into a state of decline and got out when Tahmasp I came into the throne in 1534 - Abbas I was the leader who lead the Safavids to their peak of prosperity, but after he died, his grandson was put in place, because he was very gullible
I	- Ishma’il lead his troops and conquered most of Persia, while still driving out their enemies, the Ozbegs - War between Safavids vs Ottomans at Chaldiran, which was also Sufi’s vs. Shi’ats, and the Safavids were no match for the Ottomans and were defeated - Because of the defeat, it prevented the western expansion in the Empire, which they wanted
R	- Were Shi’as (one tribal form of Islam) - Mullahs helped convert people to become Shi’a (local Mosque officials) - Preached their teachings in Mosques - Abbas I built beautiful mosques in his capital of Isfahan - Imams – successor of Ali
I	- Abbas I founded & built several colleges - Mansions just extruded beauty and elegance; beautiful gardens - Patterns of geometric shapes, floral designs, ceramic tiles, and also lines from the Qu’ran were part of architecture
T	- Deadly weapons; heavy artillery, cannons, & muskets